XXXI. 1834. described as the best alleviation of declining years." * It CHAP. may be doubted, however, whether such a regulation is not absolutely unavoidable, especially with young persons, for whom the "workhouse test" is more particularly required; and probably the most advisable way to solve the difficulty, is to apply it only to persons in early or middle life, and administer relief to those in advanced years in their own houses. 154. bill has not rially to It was confidently expected that this great change would effect a very great reduction in the burden of Effect of the English poor-rates, and the diminution which appeared been matein them for some years after the passing of the act, lessen poorseemed in some degree to justify the anticipation. The rates. result, however, after the lapse of a considerable time, has by no means been equally favourable, and the burden, after fifteen years had passed over, became nearly as great, whether measured in money or quarters of wheat, as before the bill passed. The amount levied is still on an average from £5,000,000 to £6,000,000, and the number of persons relieved from 800,000 to 900,000 a-year. This is the more remarkable from the consideration, that for seven years preceding 1854 the annual emigration from the empire has been on an average 266,000, and in one year had reached 368,000. The effect of this vast exodus upon the labour market must have been very great, but it has by no means produced that decrease in the poor-rates which might reasonably have been expected. The truth would appear to be, that the excessive multiplication of poor is a universal and irremediable evil in the advanced stages of society, springing from the VOL. V. "John Anderson my jo, John, We clamb the hill thegither, 2 H XXXI. 1834. CHAP. vast accumulation of wealth in one section of it, and of labourers in another, and is one of the means by which Providence, in such circumstances, induces the decline of aged communities, and provides for the dispersion and renovation of mankind.* 155. of Parlia ment. Aug. 15. Parliament was prorogued by the King in person on Prorogation the 15th August, and his Majesty congratulated the House in warm but not undeserved terms on the legislative achievements of the preceding session. He said: 'I have not failed to observe, with the greatest approbation, that you have directed your attention to those domestic questions which more immediately affect the general welfare of the community; and I have had much satisfaction in sanctioning your wise and benevolent intentions, by giving my assent to the act for the better administration of the poor-laws in England and Wales. It will be my duty to provide that the authority vested in commissioners nominated by the Crown be exercised with temperance. To the important subjects of our jurisprudence and municipal corporations, your attention will * POOR-RATES IN ENGLAND AND WALES FROM 1834 TO 1849, MEASURED IN MONEY AND IN QUARTERS OF WHEAT. XXXI. 1834. necessarily be directed next session. The continued CHAP. increase of the revenue, notwithstanding the repeal of so many taxes, affords the surest proof that the resources of the country are unimpaired, and justifies the expectation that a perseverance in judicious and well-considered measures will still further promote the industry and augment the wealth of my people. It gives me great satisfaction Ann. Reg. to believe that, in returning to your several counties, you 331; Parl. will find a prevalence of general tranquillity, and of active 1297. industry among all classes of society.": 1 1834, 330, Deb. xxv. state of the In one respect, the flattering assurances contained 156. in these words were well founded. The public funded Financial debt in this year amounted only to £751,658,000, country. and the total annual charge on Great Britain and Ireland was £27,782,000; and the unfunded debt was £28,384,000. In 1815 the funded debt was £816,000,000, and the unfunded £42,000,000; and in 1833 it had been only £743,675,000. During the twenty years that had since intervened, therefore, the nation had paid off, notwithstanding the copious bleedings the Sinking Fund had undergone, no less than £73,000,000 of funded, and £12,000,000 of unfunded debt-in all, £85,000,000. These figures deserve to be noted, as marking the lowest point which the public debt had reached since the peace, and the lowest which it has ever since attained. The £20,000,000 borrowed this year to meet the claims of the West India proprietors brought the debt up by that amount; and, subsequently, the disorder of the finances, from the effects of the contraction of the currency, became such, that for a course of years debt was annually contracted, instead of being paid off. In 1847 the debt was £777,000,000. If the Sinking Finance Fund had been kept up to its amount of £15,000,000, n. 5, which it had reached in 1815, by not repealing the in- 1834; Parl. direct taxes from which it arose, the sum annually paid off pp. viii. would, by the year 1834, have come to exceed £35,000,000, Appendix. and the debt would have been reduced by £450,000,000.2 2 Accounts, as Deb. XXV., xvii. xix., XXXI. CHAP. As it was, the Sinking Fund this year amounted only to £1,440,000! Such had been the effect of the contraction of the currency, cheapening system, and consequent unavoidable reduction of indirect taxation. 1834. 157. of Govern ment, and disturbances in Ireland. But Government had ere long objects of more pressing Weakness concern to attend to than the ultimate liquidation of the public debt. Before the session closed, the weakness of Ministers had become apparent; and such was the irritation of the Irish Catholics and English Radicals, that the Reform party, recently so powerful, was in a manner broken up, and it was doubtful whether, on any trying question, the Administration could even command a bare majority. Aware of this, Mr O'Connell renewed his exertions to promote agitation and confusion in Ireland; and with that view, addressed in autumn a series of letters to Lord Duncannon, in which, not confining himself to Earl Grey, who was now not worth assailing, being out of office, he attacked the whole Whig party as the worst enemies of Ireland, and the authors of the whole calamities under which the country laboured. "Never," says he, " was there a more ungenial or hostile Administration in Ireland than that which has subsisted since Earl Grey first obtained office, and still subsists. I am ready to give a detail of the follies, the faults, and the crimes of the Whigs in Ireland. I will not 'set down aught in malice,' but will give a full and unexaggerated detail of the principal acts of folly, fatuity, and crime, committed towards and against the people of Ireland by the Ministry since November 1830. Duncannon, I write more in sorrow than in anger, more in regret than in hostility. It is true, you have bitterly 1 MrO'Con- deceived me-bitterly and cruelly deceived Ireland. But nell to Lord we should have known you better. You belong to the Sep. 30, Oct. Whigs, and after four years of the most emaciating experience, we ought indeed to have known that Ireland had nothing to expect from the Whigs but insolent contempt, and malignant but treacherous hostility."1 11, 1834; Ann. Reg. 1834, 332, 333. XXXI. 1834. Rathcor Nov. 11 The incitement to agitation thus given by the Apostle CHAP. of Discoutent in Ireland, was not long of bringing forth its appropriate and well-known fruits. Predial outrages, 158. which had so rapidly declined under the operation of the Riot at Coercion Act, increased as quickly with the yielding of Gov- mack. ernment, and in the beginning of winter assumed a most and Dec. 18. alarming character. Resistance was openly made in many different places to the levying of tithes, by large bodies of men, for the most part armed, which was only overcome by the employment of considerable military forces. On December 18th a body of 600 men assembled at the end of a lane at Rathcormack, which was blocked up with a car, which had been overturned, to resist the levying of tithes. The Riot Act was read, the soldiers assailed by volleys of stones, which knocked down several of the men and officers, and the riot was not overcome till they received orders to fire, by which several persons were killed and wounded. So far from repressing, the highest Catholic authorities openly justified these rebellious acts. M‘Hale, an able man, who, since the death of Dr Doyle, had been elevated to the See of Tuam, in a published letter at this time to the Duke of Wellington thus expressed himself: "All the united authorities, and the Senate, can never annex the conscientious obligations of the law to enactments that are contrary to right reason and justice; and hence the stubborn and unconquerable resistance of the people of Ireland to these odious acts (I will not call them laws), which have even forced them to pay tribute to the teachers of an adverse creed. I shall freely declare my own resolve. I have leased a small farm, just sufficient to qualify me for the exercise of the franchise. After paying the landlord his rent, Dr M'Hale neither to parson, proctor, nor agent shall I consent to Wellington, pay, in the shape of tithe, or any other tax, a penny 1834; Ann. which shall go to the support of the greatest nuisance in 333, 334. this or any other country."1 Dr So rapid had been the change in general opinion, in Dec. 9, Reg. 1834, |